This ultraviolet view is one of the first-ever images of the southern hemisphere of Venus. It was taken on 12 April 2006 by the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) onboard Venus Express, as the spacecraft passed below the planet in an elliptical arc.
The image shows Venus’s day side at left and night side at right. The planet is seen from a distance of 206 452 kilometres and at a scale of 150 kilometres per pixel.